A FOUR-GOAL blitz early in the first half saw Malaysia Cup holders Kuala Lumpur route Cambodian league champions Phnom Penh Crown 5-1 in an international club friendly in Cyberjaya on Wednesday.
After being held 1-1 at half-time in a match played under the blazing sun, Kuala Lumpur turned up the heat after the break as the temperature dipped at the Malaysian Multimedia University ground with Kevin Koubemba and Paulo Josue bagging a brace each and Romel Morales scoring another.
Assistant coach Nenad Bacina said the match was good practice for the AFC Cup which Kuala Lumpur will host Group B of the Asean zone on June 24-30 when they face PSM Makassar of Indonesia and Singapore’s Tampines Rovers.
“We played after a long training programme and I asked the boys to play with commitment and professionalism. Congratulations to them for scoring five goals,” said Bacina, standing for head coach Bojan Hodak, who returned to Croatia for a brief break.
“The first half was a bit tactical because of the heat and we let Phnom Penh have more of the ball. We changed the system for the second half and took our chances.
“For the AFC Cup, I have seen Tampines play and their footballing philosophy is similar to Phnom Penh although Tampines is a better team. Both teams build up play from the back and it was a good opportunity for us to see how we handle that.”
With their two senior goalkeepers Kevin Mendoza and Arif Ghani away on international duty, 20-year-old Azim Al Amin Kamaruddin started in goal while first-team starters Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Kenny Pallraj and J. Partiban were sidelined through injury.
Koubemba slotted in after 18 minutes when played through by Josue, who should have doubled the lead minutes later after Koubemba presented the skipper with a sitter only for the Brazilian to see his point-blank effort deflected over by the goalkeeper.
Phnom Penh did not trouble Azim in the first 45 minutes but still equalised through Takaki Ose in the 29th minute via a speculative shot from outside the box which nestled in the net off the far post after Kuala Lumpur failed to clear their lines.
The floodgates opened in the second half as Kuala Lumpur scored four times in a 12-minute spell.
Josue let fly from 25 metres five minutes in to regain the lead before standing the ball up from the byline for Morales to head in at the far post two minutes later.
Koubemba made it 4-1 from a pass by Morales after Josue played the Colombian through and the captain wrapped things up from the spot after Zhafri Yahya was brought down in the penalty box.
Bacina emptied the bench for the last 30 minutes with American forward Kyrian Nwabueze making his return 11 months after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury on his Kuala Lumpur debut.